


Love Is Tender Like the Moonlight

by Red Charade (traciller)



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Goodbyes, Happy Ending, M/M, Mentions of Racism, Mentions of homophobia, Sadness, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 22:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30079452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: Ryan only intended his time traveling to be for fun, but he fell in love in the past. Now he has to say goodbye to the love of his life.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Shyan Shipping Society Daily Prompts





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Shane and Ryan time-travel! How does it happen? Where do they go? Is it the future or the past? How are they gonna get back?
> 
> This fic is split into two chapters because of the word requirement for the prompt.

“Are you sure you have to go?” Shane asked, hands joined with Ryan’s as he stood in the middle of his living room.

“Yeah. I don’t want to, but...I’m not safe here. It’s not great back when I’m from but it’s better than this,” Ryan said, squeezing his boyfriend’s hands.

Ryan had come here on a whim, just to see what it was like to actually be in this era in this specific region, but he hadn’t intended to stay. It was just supposed to be a look around, kind of like a tourist thing, but he’d met Shane and then he didn’t want to leave. But, even though racism was still a big problem in his time, racism was even worse in the past and eventually he realized just how unsafe he was. And people were starting to get hostile toward him. Nothing huge, yet, but he was starting to worry about being out by himself. And he knew people were starting to murmur about Shane now, too. It wasn’t really safe for a gay man in this time period, either, and there were rumors that they were more than just friends sharing an apartment. He couldn’t be the reason Shane was killed, and he knew he couldn’t let Shane feel responsible for it if he chose to stay and was killed because of racism.

He told himself that eventually they would move on. Find people in their own time periods to be with. Shane would find a nice guy and they’d figure out a way to make it work. Ryan would find someone, too, in the future where he was from. It hurt him to think of Shane with someone else and he knew it would hurt Shane to think of him with someone else too, but it was the only way they could have a chance at being safe.

“I’ll miss you,” Shane said, eyes shining with unshed tears. It was deeper than that, but he didn’t have the words to express that. He usually never cried, but he couldn’t help it. His heart was breaking and it hurt so much.

“I’ll miss you, too, Shane. I’ll never forget you, I promise,” Ryan said, tears already slipping down his own cheeks.

“I’ll never forget you, either. I couldn’t, no matter how many years pass,” Shane replied, reaching up to wipe he tears from Ryan’s cheeks gently. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Shane. I’ll always love you. No matter what happens that’ll never change,” Ryan said. He wished they had more time to say goodbye. But the longer he stayed the harder it would be to leave. It was agonizing now and he was worried that if he stayed any longer he wouldn’t be able to leave.

“I’ll leave this with you. It’s like mine and if anything really horrible happens you can come find me. But, we can’t be going back and forth, someone here will figure it out. But...but if something happens and you’re in danger you should use it. And if you need to bring someone with you it can do that, too, but just one person. Just hold onto him—to them, and they’ll come with you,” Ryan explained, taking his hands away from Shane long enough to show him one more time how to use the device.

“Ryan...” Shane said, but he trailed off. He didn’t know how to say all of the things in his heart that needed to be said.

“I know,” Ryan said and gave Shane a hug. He felt Shane’s arms around him and it felt like home and he knew how much he was loved. He tried to convey all the same things with his arms so tight around Shane and his head resting on Shane’s chest for the last time.

When they parted they didn’t go far before they were leaning in again, this time for a kiss that was so tender that it seemed to last for years and for only seconds at the same time. Afterward, they really did separate and Ryan stepped away from Shane several paces before he started to adjust the settings on the small device strapped to his wrist.

As he looked up he saw that tears were openly falling down Shane’s cheeks now, too. Neither of them looked away as Ryan started to fade out of existence in this time period. It hurt so much that some part of them wanted to, but they also knew that if they did they would never forgive themselves and would regret it for the rest of their lives, that they didn’t take that one last long look knowing it was the last time they’d ever see each other again.

***

When Ryan got home, back to his own time period, the apartment was silent and the day was beautiful, but it felt like it should be storming out and everything should be dark and nothing about this place or this time felt like home. Shane wasn’t here, so how could it? He took the device off of himself and put it away, reverently but for good. He couldn’t ever use it again after this, even to go to a different time period. It felt wrong and he didn’t want to. Every time he would see it he would think of Shane.

He took the one picture he had of Shane out of his little bag and he set it up by his other family photos. He stared at it for a long time, tears coming again, because it felt like the love of his life had just died. And thinking about that made him realize that in this time period Shane certainly really was dead. Some morbid part of him thought about seeing if he could find Shane’s grave, leave some flowers there maybe. But he knew his heart couldn’t take that. Maybe some day.


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later there was a knock on his door. Ryan hadn’t been to work the last two days and he knew he couldn’t exactly call and say he needed bereavement leave so he just...said he had the flu and kept calling out. He was going to lose his job if he didn’t stop this. But how could you stop the world from ending? He supposed it was friends coming to check on him and find out why he hadn’t been answering his phone or showing up to work.

But when he opened the door he thought he was seeing things. “Shane?!” He asked, eyes wide as he pulled him into a tight hug. Some part of him did wonder if he was so upset that he was literally hallucinating but he didn’t think you could grab onto your hallucinations. At least, according to movies you couldn’t. In movies the apparition always disappeared when you tried to do that.

The arms around him were so solid and warm and so obviously Shane’s, though, that he hugged him all the tighter and started to cry again. He’d been crying all day but now it was for a different reason.

“Hi, Ryan,” Shane said as he held Ryan tightly.

“Hi?? That’s all you have to say?” Ryan asked, laughing through his tears. “Hi.” He said, and shook his head before resting it on Shane’s chest. “Shane, what are you doing here?” He asked, even though he didn’t want to know. Not really. He just wanted to enjoy Shane’s presence and embrace.

Then he remembered what he’d told Shane before he left and he pulled away and looked at Shane worriedly, looking him over. “Is everything okay? Were you in trouble?” He asked, reaching up to run his fingers through Shane’s thick lush hair.

“No, I just. I couldn’t see living without you. You said it was safer for someone like me here than in my time and it wasn’t safe for you in my time. So, I just thought it would be better if I came to you,” Shane explained.

“But what about everything you’re leaving behind? Your family? Everything you knew?” Ryan asked, surprised. He didn’t know what to think.

“I wrote them a letter and let them know I was going to be with someone I loved and that I wouldn’t be able to be in touch with them anymore, but I loved them and I would be okay. They know about me, so...I don’t think they’ll be too surprised to find out that if I want to be with someone forever I might have to hide,” Shane explained. He wished he’d been able to tell the whole truth but they would’ve worried for his sanity and safety and come looking for him if he’d mentioned time travel.

“Oh, Shane...” Ryan said and hugged him again.

“Besides, if it had been safe for you in my time you would’ve stayed. You would’ve left your family for me,” Shane pointed out as he wrapped his arms around Ryan again.

“How long did you wait before coming to find me?” Ryan asked, his voice muffled by Shane’s chest. Shane smelled so good. He smelled like home.

“An hour,” Shane replied, as if that was no big deal.

“An hour?! Shane!” Ryan said, shocked.

“Yeah. I think I got the days mixed up, though. How long have you been back here?” Shane asked. He hoped it hadn’t been months.

“Two days,” Ryan said, still astonished.

“Oh, then I wasn’t so far off, then!” Shane said, happily.

“Shane!” Ryan exclaimed, but Shane shut him up with a deep kiss that Ryan couldn’t help just melting into.

***

They were married a year later at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, California.


End file.
